9/04/2008

Chavela Vargas.

Chavela Vargas has been famous for decades for her uniquely touching voice and her rather interesting personality (she used to dress and behave like a man back when she was young) who, at 89 is still an important artist in Latin-American (and in general, Spanish-speaking) folk music. You might recognize her from Pedro Almodóvar's movies or Salma Hayek's Frida (where she even has a cameo). The lyrics of her music use Spanish in the most beautiful and expressing way, they are usually very sad and I admit it can be hard to appreciate it without actually understanding the words. This is why I recommend you to watch Almodóvar movies where the lyrics fit the scenes and I believe they are even subtitled (though it is quite hard to translate them). Below is the video of Somos (We are), my new favourite Chavela Vargas song.

An excerpt from the lyrics:"We are an impossible dreamThat searches the nightTo forget itself in its shadowsOf the world and of everything."